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Search Patterns: Design for Discovery
Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe. In this provocative and inspiring book, you'll explore design patterns that apply across the categories of web, ecommerce, enterprise, desktop, mobile, social, and real-time search and discovery. Filled with colorful illustrations and examples, Search Patterns brings modern information retrieval to life, covering such diverse topics as relevance, faceted navigation, multi-touch, personalization, visualization, multi-sensory search, and augmented reality. By drawing on their own experience-as well as best practices and evidence-based research-the authors not only offer a practical guide to help you build effective search applications, they also challenge you to imagine the future of discovery. You'll find Search Patterns intriguing and invaluable, whether you're a web practitioner, mobile designer, search entrepreneur, or just interested in the topic.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
39 people are currently reading
644 people want to read
About the author
Peter Morville
11 books190 followersPeter Morville is a pioneer of the fields of information architecture and user experience. He's been helping people to plan since 1994. Clients include AT&T, Cisco, eBay, Harvard, IBM, Macy's, the Library of Congress, and the National Cancer Institute. He has delivered keynotes and workshops in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His work has been covered by Business Week, The Economist, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal. Peter lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife, two daughters, and a dog named Knowsy.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 16, 2017
I'm really confused by this book. I've expected professional book full of search patterns but I've got inconsistent mix of patterns and fairytales. Sometimes it goes straight to the point, sometimes it describes things so generally that you read 2 pages and still don't know what it wants to tell you. It starts with comix narrative but it disappears somewhere and gets back at the end.
September 8, 2019
4.5
Loved it. It looks like a textbook, but speaks to everyone who thinks about search as the backbone of not only products, but human behaviour.
The book puts forward strong opinions and perspectives and I dig that. Like, personalisation is way more difficult than how it is thrown around for vested interests like for selling more and creating differentiation.
The note on advanced search being on the edge of being almost useless by end-users, but still Being the platform to experiment and cater to the 100% searches on the internet, is interesting. So is the piece on the tension between relevance and interestingness.
The book was helpful, like it is helpful to be reminded or educated of first principles.
The myriad examples were helpful too. the ideas and tips and tricks give a holistic view of the problem solving that is search.
Loved it. It looks like a textbook, but speaks to everyone who thinks about search as the backbone of not only products, but human behaviour.
The book puts forward strong opinions and perspectives and I dig that. Like, personalisation is way more difficult than how it is thrown around for vested interests like for selling more and creating differentiation.
The note on advanced search being on the edge of being almost useless by end-users, but still Being the platform to experiment and cater to the 100% searches on the internet, is interesting. So is the piece on the tension between relevance and interestingness.
The book was helpful, like it is helpful to be reminded or educated of first principles.
The myriad examples were helpful too. the ideas and tips and tricks give a holistic view of the problem solving that is search.
Read
January 14, 2012The future isn’t just unwritten—it’s unsearched
February 3, 2023
I think it's important to understand the psychology of what people are looking for online. The book made us realise the technology, the era we're in and the need to utilise it with what people are triggered by. It explored different principles, search engines, and methods of search that are used by different platforms for different purposes. Based on what I'm doing on the side and where I'd like it to go being a perfectionist to some degree, the concepts that this book promised piqued my interest.
It's not a one and done deal (one stop shop) but when you read you'll realise that there are many aspects to what one would want to do and the book helps to place certain things in perspective. I'm now able to go forward with the learned notions in mind and think about things in an alternative fashion as I search or design search protocol
It's not a one and done deal (one stop shop) but when you read you'll realise that there are many aspects to what one would want to do and the book helps to place certain things in perspective. I'm now able to go forward with the learned notions in mind and think about things in an alternative fashion as I search or design search protocol
June 24, 2022
Search becomes an iterative, interactive experience where what we find changes what we seek.
The wind chime maker invites nature into collaboration. ~Brenda Laurel
The wind chime maker invites nature into collaboration. ~Brenda Laurel
June 23, 2010
A concise book on search patterns, with lots of well-chosen illustrations. I liked the way the authors show how search blends into everything we do online, and they certainly give plenty of credit to librarians (a nice touch). There are a few diagrams that seemed nonsensical and jargony (or at least unilluminating) but on the whole the authors get some big points across clearly and quickly. Whether this will actually be applicable for me remains to be seen--how easy would my life be if I were promoting shoes or some other discrete, colorful product, rather than miscellaneous-format collections of information!
December 27, 2018
4.0 out of 5 starsHighly Useful for PR Pros Doing SEO
In media relations, you study the anthropology of journalism to understand how reporters think. What's the corollary for search engines? This book. Moving several steps beyond SEO, it takes you into the minds of how the people who create search engines think. And given how fast moving, barrier-breaking and startlingly important their field is, it's a very good read indeed. Given all the graphics, it's best to read this either in print or on the iPad. Don't read it on the Kindle. You really need the graphics to understand the best points.
In media relations, you study the anthropology of journalism to understand how reporters think. What's the corollary for search engines? This book. Moving several steps beyond SEO, it takes you into the minds of how the people who create search engines think. And given how fast moving, barrier-breaking and startlingly important their field is, it's a very good read indeed. Given all the graphics, it's best to read this either in print or on the iPad. Don't read it on the Kindle. You really need the graphics to understand the best points.
April 27, 2018
Good stuff, covered exactly what I was looking for aka agreed with me.
April 20, 2021
It is a fantastic book, that needs a refresh. 10 years is a long period of time in tech, all the premises are still very valid and helpful, it is just a bit dated.
April 26, 2022
A bit dated and repetitive, but some great nuggets of wisdom in there.
September 2, 2014
This book's excess of rhetorical mumbo-jumbo belies its valuable message that search is being (and should continue to be) reinvented to move beyond the constraints of the conventional search box.
For example, when reading it I had the idea of combining a search box with a social network...a phone-a-friend-like concept, where each person has tags of personal knowledge and the search suggests sending a message. (A hundred pages later, I discovered that such a search already exists as Aardvark.)
You could read only the first 60 pages of this book and not miss much. That first chunk contains the actual content of the book: ideas about the historical limitations of search and ways in which it might expand. The rest of the book lists common search patterns and examples of search engines, most of which should already be familiar to anyone who uses a computer a lot.
Some specific things this book says are:
For example, when reading it I had the idea of combining a search box with a social network...a phone-a-friend-like concept, where each person has tags of personal knowledge and the search suggests sending a message. (A hundred pages later, I discovered that such a search already exists as Aardvark.)
You could read only the first 60 pages of this book and not miss much. That first chunk contains the actual content of the book: ideas about the historical limitations of search and ways in which it might expand. The rest of the book lists common search patterns and examples of search engines, most of which should already be familiar to anyone who uses a computer a lot.
Some specific things this book says are:
December 9, 2011
This book makes a good job in cataloguing and exploring a wide range of search applications - from the most notorious generalistic search engines to some peculiar, more specialistic,services - , and above all , in expliciting the human behaviours that trigger the search and the approval (or disapproval!) of results by the users.
At the same time, the authors try to give a perspective to the future of search, from the starting point of the actual, most evoluted implementations, such some of the new modalities we got today in the “mobile” field.
Its writing style is quite smart and easy to follow, and the book also succeeds to keep a good equilibrium between textual and visual contributions.
If I have to find a “con”in all its “pros”, I'd say that the authors didn't feel the need to go more in depth , leaving to the more technically oriented reader the need to enrich and fulfill the reading of this book with other resources such (not casually,I presume!) titles in the O'Reilly catalogue, like “Ambient findability”, from one of the authors of ”Search Patterns”, the influential “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web” or the many books exploring the various facets of interface design.
At the same time, the authors try to give a perspective to the future of search, from the starting point of the actual, most evoluted implementations, such some of the new modalities we got today in the “mobile” field.
Its writing style is quite smart and easy to follow, and the book also succeeds to keep a good equilibrium between textual and visual contributions.
If I have to find a “con”in all its “pros”, I'd say that the authors didn't feel the need to go more in depth , leaving to the more technically oriented reader the need to enrich and fulfill the reading of this book with other resources such (not casually,I presume!) titles in the O'Reilly catalogue, like “Ambient findability”, from one of the authors of ”Search Patterns”, the influential “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web” or the many books exploring the various facets of interface design.
July 27, 2019
Pretty much impressed and will read it few more times again!
EXPERIENCE DISCOVERY:
"The Coming Age of Magic" by Mike Kuniavsky:
"I mean enchanted objects. What I'm proposing is a metaphorical relationship between magic and portable, network-aware, information processing objects that is analogous to the relationship between office supplies and computer screens in the desktop metaphor. I am explicitly not advocating pretending that technology is a kind of magic or lying about how technology works, but using our existing cultural understanding of magic objects as an abstraction to describe the behavior of ubiquitous computing devices."
"Designed Animism" by Brenda Laurel:
"Sensors that gather information about wind, or solar flares, or neutrino showers, or bird migrations, or tides, or processes inside a living being, or dynamic or an ecosystem are means by which designers can invite nature into collaboration, and the invisible pattern they capture can be brought into the realm of the scenes in myriad new ways."
EXPERIENCE DISCOVERY:
"The Coming Age of Magic" by Mike Kuniavsky:
"I mean enchanted objects. What I'm proposing is a metaphorical relationship between magic and portable, network-aware, information processing objects that is analogous to the relationship between office supplies and computer screens in the desktop metaphor. I am explicitly not advocating pretending that technology is a kind of magic or lying about how technology works, but using our existing cultural understanding of magic objects as an abstraction to describe the behavior of ubiquitous computing devices."
"Designed Animism" by Brenda Laurel:
"Sensors that gather information about wind, or solar flares, or neutrino showers, or bird migrations, or tides, or processes inside a living being, or dynamic or an ecosystem are means by which designers can invite nature into collaboration, and the invisible pattern they capture can be brought into the realm of the scenes in myriad new ways."
December 10, 2010
As a general introduction to the theory and practice of online search capabilities, this book covers the why, how and what’s what of search functions and interfaces in a cross-disciplinary way, including examples of search patterns for inspiration and analysis. Those interested in learning or teaching online research methods or information architecture might find this a good place to start for insight how search functions influence how people see, navigate and interact with digital texts.
June 19, 2013
Morville provides a poetic overview of discovery tools that are implemented today and offers a couple thought-provoking scenarios of search in the future. The chapter on "engines of discovery" was a huge let down though, being almost an extension of a previous chapter with some random specific implementations Morville decided to toss in. Aside from that, a very good read if one is considering different methods of search.
March 21, 2013
Pretty engaging overall. Some of the writing was a little distracting - too much flair which detracted from the substance rather than added to it. There were also lots of references, especially in analogies, to things that aren't necessarily common knowledge. I did appreciate how the tone was inspiring rather than simply factual. You can tell the authors are passionate on the subject.
July 27, 2011
This is a great introduction. Many things will be familiar, though you might not have a name for them until he gives you one. It's not earth-shattering stuff but it is a great place to start if you're designing something.
April 16, 2013
Just like the title suggests, this book is a collection of patterns. Authors give little practical advice on when to use this or that one, sticking with basic descriptions and musings on what's possible search-wise in the future.
March 30, 2010
Wow. the search domain is just 10 years old. very interesting and easy read.
November 23, 2010
A very nice introduction and overview of the general issues and challenges of search. Not a deep read in any sense, but a good launching pad to explore the challenges of findability.
January 11, 2012
This will aid my lifelong dream of becoming a "user experience" worker for Google. This is all about design, interface, technology, and researching. Pure genius, simply pure genius.
January 11, 2013
I've read and enjoyed Morville's "Ambient Findability". This was not quite as good for me; too much survey of the landscape in too short a work. But still one of my favorite topic spaces.
July 29, 2013
Very easy read on search patterns!
June 12, 2015
Lots of interesting stuff.
It would be great to read a bit more recent edition of this book. Because now examples (e.g. iPhone 3GS) seems a bit outdated.
It would be great to read a bit more recent edition of this book. Because now examples (e.g. iPhone 3GS) seems a bit outdated.
September 21, 2015
Simple idea, good present
March 7, 2013
A dense, fascinating look at search. It changed the way that I think about the search experience.
September 13, 2011
Loved this book "We are the map makers" all about web search interfaces.
August 7, 2013
REALLY essential for anyone who wants to understand how search engines work.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews